


Kill me if you can

by Vandereer



Category: One Piece
Genre: Blood Loss, Blood and Injury, Broken Bones, Character Death, Hanging, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Temporary Slavery, Whump, Whumptober 2020, botched execution, death by crushing, ear injuries, suffocation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 05:08:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26759965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vandereer/pseuds/Vandereer
Summary: Collection of Whumptober 2020 prompts, featuring Zoro as the whumpee. Will possibly feature some ships (Zosan, Zolu maybe some ZoSopp too), relationships and tags will be updated as I go.Now with major character death in some chapters, will be tagged on a chapter to chapter basis.Zosan in chapter 2, Zolu in chapter 3 and 7, Zosopp in chapter 5.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Roronoa Zoro, Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates & Roronoa Zoro, Roronoa Zoro & Everyone, Roronoa Zoro & Usopp, Roronoa Zoro & Vinsmoke Sanji, Roronoa Zoro/Usopp, Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 34
Kudos: 97





	1. Let's hang out sometime

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first Whumptober attempt! I've been wanting to do this ever since I read the wonderful No Man is an Island by my friend Kiite which you should totally read.
> 
> (full disclosure that I've not planned Like Any of this, so this is going to be very seat of pants and not beta read, woops!)
> 
> You’d think I’d be tired of hurting Zoro after writing Tiger by the Tail, a fic where Zoro gets shot and has his arm broken in the second chapter and gets continually more fucked up after that.  
> But I’m not! Enjoy!

~~_Waking up restrained/Shackled/_ ~~ _Hanging ✔_

  
  


* * *

Wasn’t he supposed to be dead by now?

Zoro hadn’t seen many executions, but he knew the gist of how hanging worked. The victim had a noose tied around their neck and their hands bound behind them so they couldn’t try to climb up the rope or anything. They stood on a wooden platform with a trapdoor underneath their feet, which was released by a lever. The victim kicked around like a headless cockroach for a little while, then it was over. 

When Zoro was standing up on the trap door a few minutes ago, he had thought his life would be over in mere moments. Instead, the executioner yanked the lever, he fell, and then…

Well. He was starting to feel a little _silly_ , dangling like a marionette with its strings all tied up. 

Zoro gasped and strained to move his head so he was looking right up at his executioners.

“Man, this is taking a while!” the man said, scratching under his black hood. 

A second executioner grumbled back. “No kiddin’, you see this neck on this guy? It’s like he lifts weights with his teeth or something.”

The first executioner put his hands on his hips and leaned down through the trap door to peer down at Zoro, plucking the taut rope like a guitar string.

“Ah, I think we screwed up. Aren’t you supposed to drop ‘em so they break their neck or something? Cause his neck definitely ain’t broke.”

_You’re supposed to be the executioners, you tell me!_ Zoro wanted to shout, but all that came out was a ragged, pained gasp. He understood now where the useless kicking came from; every part of his body was screaming _fight this, bite through the damn rope_ \- _DO SOMETHING!_

But as much as he tried, he couldn’t angle his head enough to try and bite the rope. His attempts made him look ridiculous to the crowd of people who had come to watch ‘Pirate Hunter Zoro’ die.

The crowd looked disappointed as he struggled, as they stared and chattered amongst themselves. One of the executioners yawned and leaned up against the trap door lever with his eyes closed.

This wasn’t how Zoro ever expected to go. Not in front of a bunch of people picking their noses and eating fried crap on sticks like he was some kind of crap carnival attraction.

His throat burned and his chest full of periodic stabs of pain. Every time he managed to suck in the barest thimbleful of air, the stabbing pain worsened. His lungs were about to burst, he was almost certain. 

His body twisted in another burst of frenzied struggles as he felt his strength leaving him. His vision turned black at the edges. For some reason his last thought was some worry about who would take care of his swords for him when he was gone. 

Some kind of projectile whizzed through the air above Zoro’s head. All the tension in the rope was released all at once, leaving Zoro to crash to the ground in a heap. The smell of gunpowder smoke filled his nose and throat, propelling him into a series of excruciating coughs.

That smell usually meant one person.

“...’Sopp?” Zoro mumbled, blinking and struggling to open his eyes. They burned, partly from the smoke filling the air, but more likely due to the blood vessels popping in his eyes.

Through the dark gray of the Gunpowder Star and the lighter, white smoke of some kind of smoke bomb, Usopp’s long nose appeared. Then the rest of his face followed with a big grin.

“Yeah, it’s me! Your friend _‘Sopp_ ’. It’s going to be okay big cat, I’m here!”

Warmth flooded his chest at the presence of his friend, but something nagged at him as Usopp fiddled with the noose around his neck. “You’re here by yourself?”  
“Well yeah, I was the first one to get here! Up you get, we have to go!”

Usopp paled as he looked over Zoro’s limp legs, and listened to him gulp for air like a dying fish. “Uh, you can walk, can’t you?”

“What do you think?” Zoro choked.

Zoro should’ve considered it the final nail in the embarrassment coffin; Usopp hauling Zoro over his shoulder like a rolled-up rug, his legs quivering as he struggled to hold Zoro’s weight. But really, he was glad not to have to die at the hands of such incompetent executioners.

Zoro relaxed as Usopp huffed and puffed away from the crowd, back towards the safety of the Merry. The burnt tail of the noose around his neck fluttered and streamed out as Usopp ran. Zoro cast one final glare at the execution stand before he shut his eyes.

_The next time someone tries to kill me, they better do it properly!_


	2. In the hands of the enemy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man this is an intense prompt for day 2 but I’m here I’m digging it. I have a brick on the accelerator pedal and a gallon of cheap hooch let’s GO!
> 
> Tagging this as zosan for the clout but you can read it as platonic love too~
> 
> Major character death at the end of this one! I will probably end up writing a couple more prompts which end in death, too. So if that bothers u motherfucking take of yourself and back out.

_Pick who dies ✔_ ~~_/Collars/Kidnapped_ ~~

* * *

One thing was certain. They were _fucke_ _d._

Zoro was more chains than flesh and blood at this point, a terrible wound slashed across his hip and thigh. It wasn’t life-threatening, but enough to slow him down if they managed to escape this mess. And enough to bleed out given enough time. 

Sanji was even worse off, his leg crumpled and broken with what looked like a compound fracture underneath him. He could limp away, if the piece of shit keeping them there would allow it.

The pair of them were both on their knees, Sanji sweating as he was forced to put pressure on his leg. On top of that, they had a man in front of them holding a gun. 

“I want you,” he told Zoro, “to pick which one of you will die. The other gets to walk out of here alive.”

“How the hell do we know you won’t go ahead and kill whoever survives?” Zoro snarled. 

“I can never tell a lie. I’m a Devil Fruit user. I ate the Pact-Pact Fruit.”

“The _what?”_ Sanji growled low in his throat, pain making his smoke-roughened voice even more coarse.

“When I make a deal, it’s binding. If I betray the pact, it means my own death. And besides that, I find promise-breakers to be the lowest of the low.”

_Lower than making two crew-mates die in front of each other?_ Zoro thought to himself. Their captor seemed to realise the irony and gave him a slick grin.

“Fine.” Zoro said. “You’ll kill us both if I refuse to make a choice, right?”

“Indeed. Make your choice, or I will shoot you both.”

Sanji made the most resigned noise Zoro had ever heard come out of him. "Just say it Mosshead, I know you want to." 

"Say _what_?" Zoro said, feeling tired from the amount of blood he had lost. He could use a nap.

"Say he can kill me! One of us has to go back to the ship and warn them about this shithead!” Sanji said, jabbing his head in the fruit-user’s direction. “I can’t walk, my leg won’t heal properly from this either." 

Zoro was aghast, lifting his battered head to glare at the cook out of his one eye. "Are you saying I _want_ him to kill you instead of me, you think that _little_ of me?!" 

Sanji didn’t know how to respond, his mouth opening and then shutting with a little click of teeth.

Zoro rolled his eye. “For the love of God, cook. For someone so smart you can be a real fucking moron sometimes.”

“Go to hell, Mosshead.”

The Pact-fruit user spun the wheel of the revolver. “I’m _waiting.”_

“Oh you can shut the hell up, too!” Sanji snarled at the man, bloody spittle flying out from between his teeth. As he leaned forward, Sanji put too much pressure on his broken leg and paused to gasp as a spasm of agony took him.

Zoro had long gone numb, the blood draining out of his leg left him feeling cold, but not in nearly as much physical distress as the cook. Zoro had to look away, from the way Sanji was shivering he was likely going into shock. He wouldn’t be able to get away pretty soon if Zoro didn’t make a decision.

His own life, or the cook’s.

The way the villain smiled at Zoro, it was like he had been watching, _waiting_ for the best candidate to play this game with. Luffy seemed more obvious, if Zoro was being quite honest. Chopper even moreso. If his Captain or the little reindeer were here, Zoro wouldn’t have hesitated to give up his own life in an instant. But this Pact-bastard seemed to think he had caught Zoro out. He wanted him to say ‘take the shitty cook, I don’t care about him’.

“Hey, wake up you, stupid cyclops! Are you falling asleep or something?” Sanji yelled, breaking Zoro out of his train of thought. Maybe he was losing more blood than he thought. Everything in the small, dark cell was starting to dip and wobble.

"It's my job to protect the crew.” Zoro said, having no idea what part of the conversation he had drifted off during, and only stating what he knew to be true. He didn’t have any other role apart from being their swordsman. 

"Really? I thought your job was to sleep all day and drink dear Miss. Nami out of pocket!" Sanji paused to draw in a ragged breath. "It's my job, too!"

"You're the _cook_ , if it weren't for you everyone would be dead within a month. Shut the hell up about not being important!” Zoro snapped. “They can't afford to have you trying to throw your life away at every turn. I don’t have a crucial role like feeding them or warning them about bad weather. Like you said; all I do is sleep and drink booze." 

"Don't twist my words around, asshole! You're Luffy's _first mate_! He would be _lost_ without you."

"Maybe, for a little while, but he would find someone else." Zoro chuckles. "You're not projecting, are you, Swirls?" 

"Shut the fuck up!" Sanji hung his head, gritting his teeth. Was he close to tears? Zoro couldn’t say he’d seen him cry enough times to be sure.

"I think you know. You know deep down that I'm right.” Zoro said quietly. “When an animal loses one of its legs, it struggles at first, but it can adapt. Eventually, it acts like it never lost a limb in the first place. The crew losing its cook would be like that animal trying to live without a stomach, or its _lungs.”_

"No, I _don’t_ know that! Dammit Mosshead, tell him to kill me already!" 

Zoro chuckles. 

"What's so funny?!" 

"How much you care." 

“Of _course_ I care! You think I wouldn't have kicked your ass off the ship long ago if I didn't care about you?" 

Zoro closed his eye and breathed in deep. As he moved, more blood soaked into his pants and trickled down to pool under his body. He had already made up his mind.

“Fine- fine you _win,_ you stupid moss.” Sanji said, in a hurried rush, like he knew what Zoro was thinking. They spent so much time together, Zoro was almost sure he did.

“I don’t know how we’d manage without your stupid ass.” Sanji continued. “I _love_ tripping over your moronic snoring carcass every time I’m trying to serve coffee. So please, _please_ don’t make me go back to the crew alone!”

Sanji’s blue eye was wide with fear, shining like the diamond cufflinks he sometimes wore. Then a sick look crossed his face like he was about to throw up. He lifted his face towards the Pact Fruit user. "Oh God. I've confessed to shit I wouldn't write in my own diary, on my _deathbed._ Please shoot me." 

That got a chuckle out of the Pact-fruit user. Zoro swore he saw Sanji’s Diable Jambe flare up for a second, despite his weakened state.

"You care so much about your friends that you can't bear to see them hurt or let them die. It’s admirable, but it makes you _weak._ ” the Pact-user said to Sanji. “I made the right choice, picking you two. None of your other crewmates would have provided this much _entertainment.”_

Zoro felt the heat of Sanji’s attack, saw his hair curling up a little with it. The heat felt nice, considering Zoro’s skin was cold as stone.

"Well, you can go ahead and kill me, since this Mosshead can't make up his mind." Sanji snapped, like that was the end of it. 

"No. He has to choose. The pact has already been made." 

"Why?! I'm making it easy for both of us here!" 

"I don't want it to be _easy_. I know how self sacrificing you both are, how you’re always trying to outdo each other by throwing yourselves into danger.”

“Sanji. Enough.” Zoro said.

Zoro turned back to the love cook, a strange little smile on his face and a manic, almost victorious look in his eyes. He met it with a horrified look, beyond horrified. Zoro never thought Swirls would ever look at him like that. 

_Not today. I didn't let you have Thriller Bark, but you're not getting this one either._

The villain placed the gun between Zoro's eyes. 

"Take care of the crew for me, Love-Co-" 

**_BANG._ **


	3. My way or the highway

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to recover from that previous meat tenderiser to the nuts with some sweet healing zolu and incredible violence! Wanted to go a bit more humorous for this one but there’s mentions of slavery in. Heads up.

_Manhandled ✔_ ~~_/Forced to their knees/Held at gunpoint_~~

* * *

Zoro was nothing if not stubborn. 

Sanji often said he'd be arguing with the Grim Reaper over his own death, and Zoro had to agree that he was right. 

Whoever was dumb enough to try and make a slave of him, well, they rivalled the sheer stupidity of how Zoro had gotten himself caught. 

Zoro snarled and ground his heels down like a stubborn mule, as the Celestial Dragon’s bodyguards tried to drag him onto the gangplank. He knew that as soon as they got him on board the ship, they would sail out to god-knows-where and make it even harder for Zoro's nakama to find him.

All this because he had chosen to take a nap in a tempting pool of sunshine on the docks instead of the Sunny. Oh well. 

The Celestial Dragon wailed like a little baby at the top of the gangplank, his mouth a bawling red D-shape as he ordered his servants around. He had the stupidest little orange hairstyle under the bubble that surrounded his head. It looked like a pile of orange poo to Zoro.

"Make him _go_ , hurry up! want the Pirate Hunter to be my servant! Make him _go!"_

Zoro made his entire body go rigid as the guards yanked on the heavy metal cuffs around his wrists. He dug his boot onto the small ridge where the gangplank met the dock, the only traction he had against the insistent tugging. He wanted to send all these idiots flying, but he remembered what that woman at Sabaody had told him about the Dragons. An admiral would ship out with a vengeance if they ever came to harm. 

Zoro’s best shot was to somehow pull off an attack without hitting the Dragon, and wait until his crew came to help him.

A blow across Zoro’s back finally dislodged his boot from the gangplank and he fell sprawling onto his front. The guard behind him had shot him halfway up the gangplank already.

_Shit!_

Zoro tried to run back down, but several of the guards dogpiled him. All of them were trying to pull him in different directions. A hand around Zoro’s ankle pulled him up the gangplank, someone else’s hand tugged him in the direction of the sea, and a man’s arm seemed to be trying to yank his damn head off.

Zoro didn’t particularly want to end up in the water with his wrists chained together, so he let them walk him onto the ship.

By the time they shoved him onto the ship, he was spitting and snarling like a cat. The meaty forearm closed around his throat kept restricting his breathing and he had had _enough._

Zoro sank his teeth into the man’s arm.

Eleven of his nineteen years of life he had trained himself to use a sword with his teeth, building the muscles in his jaw and neck for it. 

Oh boy did it sound like it hurt.

The man wailed as he dragged Zoro all over the deck, shaking and flailing in his attempts to get Zoro to loosen his grip. He was flung into the mast, grunting as a bruising blow hit his spine, then crushed against the guard rail. The man body-slammed him at full force with his elbow braced against Zoro’s throat. Still, he didn’t let go.

The man was crying by the time he presented Zoro before the Celestial Dragon - full-body sobs as Zoro hung on like a piranha. His entire face and body hurt, and on top of that the man’s blood was going up his nose.

“H-he won’t let go, your majesty.” he said pathetically. 

The Celestial Dragon sniffed and pulled out a thin rod that sparked with electricity. Without even glancing to see if it would hurt his own servant, he touched the rod to Zoro’s neck.

Zoro let go with a short cry as the current threw him across the ship. Every nerve in his body was on fire as he lay twitching. When Zoro could lift his head again, he turned to see the man who he had bitten was unconscious.

  
“I caught him, I caught the Pirate Hunter!” the Dragon cried, putting his boot on Zoro’s back. “I want him trained to carry me, he looks strong.”

Zoro ached to throw the man off and beat him to a pulp, but the memories of last time _someone_ had attacked a Celestial Dragon stopped him. Soon he took his boot off of Zoro’s back, alternating between muttering to himself and demanding things of his guards.

The Dragon bellowed "Get him a collar!" as he waddled off towards the back of the ship. As soon as he was out of range, Zoro took his chance. He stood up as countless other guards approached him, wary-slow as they held out the awful collar. They exploded, didn’t they? Zoro didn’t want to find out what getting one of those off of him would be like.

"No-sword style" Zoro muttered, bracing his chained hands and crouching down. "TORNADO!" 

Zoro swung his shackled wrists out towards the guards and an arc of air flew out towards them.

The Dragon’s crew wailed as the gust of wind blew them off the ship. Zoro was grateful he had calculated it correctly; the whirlwind didn't reach the Dragon. The barest brush of wind touched his repugnant face and twirled his mop of stupid orange hair. 

“You- you filthy pirate! How dare-” The Dragon cried, as he scrambled to flatten his hair back down onto his head. “How dare you make a mess of my hairstyle!”

The Dragon pointed a gun at Zoro’s chest.

_Ah, this is it then._

All his struggling had been for nothing. He lunged away in the hope to at least try and dodge the bullet, when a cry made the Dragon look skyward.

_“ZORO!”_

Zoro’s heart stopped as he saw a silhouette against the sun, followed by the sounds of a body whizzing towards him at great speed.

He cringed as the blot on the sun grew larger, and his captain’s body crashed into him, propelling them both into a series of cartwheels across the deck. 

Zoro groaned as he and Luffy untangled their legs from each other.

"Oops! Sorry, Zoro!" Luffy chuckled.

“ _LUFFY!_ I’ve already been beaten up enough without you helping out!” Zoro smacked him over the head with his cuffed wrists.  
Luffy giggled ‘shishishi!’ at him, as if he hadn’t noticed. “You can take more than that, I’m sure!”  
“Yeah, maybe! But I don’t exactly _want_ to!”

“YOU CAN’T HAVE THE PIRATE HUNTER, HE’S _MINE!”_ The Dragon wailed with his hands balled into fists.

“Jeez, you’re a big baby aren’t you?” Luffy snorted, then slipped an arm around Zoro’s waist, pulling him flush against his body. “Sorry wig-guy. Zoro only belongs to _me_!”

_“WIG?!”_

With that, Luffy stretched his arm out to grab the main mast and hopped a foot into the air. His arm pulled taut, Zoro squawked knowing what was coming next.

As Luffy rocketed him away from the ship, he took a brief moment to press his face against Luffy’s chest and smile against his skin.

Even though a harsh landing awaited him, he knew no one would ever _dare_ try to take him away like that again.


	4. Running out of time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one is short my brain is dying

  
_~~Caged/Buried Alive/~~ collapsed building ✔_

* * *

_This is nothing. Collapsed building? You’ve been stuck under a collapsed building before! Mind over matter, mind over matte-_

“ _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”_

The cry of agony spilling out of Zoro’s mouth rattled his eardrums in the small space.

_Okay. That was embarrassing_ he thought to himself, if he made a noise like that with the Cook around to hear him, he’d never hear the end of it. He usually tried to keep it to himself when he was in pain - better to not let his enemies know about it. 

Then again there were usually times when it hurt so bad your body physically needed you to scream to take the edge off of it. This was one of those times.

Though he could move his shoulders easy enough, something was wrong with his leg. A sharp point of rubble pressed into the bone of his calf and something ground together when he tried to move. It felt like it was broken - or more likely _crushed_ beyond all repair.

He had two choices, as far as he could see; try to keep pushing a building the size of Alubarna Palace off of himself with just his arms, or call for help.

_This is nothing, you’re stronger than this, you can push it off just like you pushed everything off your back before. Do it, you fucking_ joke _of a swordsman!_

Zoro inhaled as much as he could.

_“LUFFY? FRANKY? YOU OUT THERE!?”_ Zoro bellowed, making his already throbbing eardrums hum.

He went through everyone in the crew he thought might be able to help lift the building off of him, before sighing. _"COOK?! IF YOU'RE OUT THERE I SWEAR I'LL-"_

He slumped back down, choking from the swirls of brick dust surrounding him. The cavity around him was no bigger than a crawlspace and he had no idea how much oxygen he had left.

He looked up, only to meet a disembodied eyeball glinting back at him, followed by the outline of what he assumed to be an ear. "R-Robin?!

A mouth appeared alongside the eye and the ear. “Zoro! I heard you scream. Do you know how far under the building you are?”

“I wasn’t exactly paying attention when it fell on me.” he gruffed, having to look away from the disembodied parts so close to his face. Robin’s power really was disturbing.

“I can try to shift it off of you, but there’s a chance it could collapse further.” Robin continued. “Are you prepared for that?”

“I’m going to die either way, just do it.”

The disembodied parts disappeared with a flourish of petals, leaving Zoro alone again.

Soon, the cave around him started to shift and rumble, and a blade of light started pouring in. Hope lifted Zoro’s heart up as the pain and pressure around his leg started to ease.

His eyes stung as the light hit them, but he thought he could see Robin’s Gigantesco Mano lifting the bulk of the building off of him.

Something felt wrong; there was a shifting above him like many huge parts of rubble were shifting together. 

Then, a rumbling tremor started above him, like an earthquake.

Zoro chuckled to himself as the blade of light disappeared, and an ominous rumble trembled through the ground. Chunks of rubble started to rain down on him.

_Ah well, thanks for trying Robin._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hands y’all a postcard with ‘Sorry I turned Zoro into a puddle of tomato sauce’ on it* see u next time


	5. Where do you think you're going?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> doing two prompts for this one because I can do whatever I want.
> 
> um. how about that Zosopp then??

_ On the run ✔/ ~~ Failed escape/ ~~ Rescue ✔ _

* * *

_ Just a little further, just a little further. _

Zoro repeated the mantra to himself, until even he was getting sick of it. He labored up steep hills, down dirt paths through the pitch-darkness of night with only a passing idea of where he was going. He needed to get  _ away _ \- anywhere but away from the dock where the ship he had fled still moored. 

And yet somehow he still ended up confused, turned around to find himself almost face to face with the Marines that were hunting for him.

He swallowed as his foot nearly touched the pool of light thrown by a Marine lantern, then tried to disappear back into the trees as quietly as he could.

His old white shirt was little but fluttering rags, clinging to his body out of sheer stubbornness, his bare shoulders wore trails of blood instead. A lot of it seemed to be coming from his head, and when he reached a shackled wrist up- 

_ Are my ears bleeding? _

His earrings and neck were soaked with it.

The collar had exploded around his neck the moment he made a break for it, but they couldn’t stop him - no, they couldn’t stop him.

  
  
  


Zoro stopped, taking a second to catch his breath. His teeth still had the sour taste of blood coating them when he ran his tongue over them. He couldn’t summon enough spit into his mouth to try and clear it - too thirsty. He had long forgotten what a cool bottle of sake tasted like.

When Zoro turned, he could see a deep yellow glow approaching from the direction of the water. The barrage would be starting soon. This wouldn’t be a Buster Call like Zoro had seen before.

A Celestial Dragon was dead, and by Zoro’s own hands. They were going to reduce the island to charred cinders for what he had done.

He hadn’t meant to kill the Dragon, but after being used as a living footstool for so long. The raw painful humiliation - knees battered after each day carting the fat orange bastard around well...

Zoro had torn the man apart. 

Using the only weapons he had; hands, teeth.

Thumbs went squelching into soft flesh and his teeth did the same. He had torn into cartilage and ripped and teared because he couldn’t, couldn’t,  _ couldn’t  _ have taken it another minute!

Zoro continued to run through the treeline, even though his legs could barely support him at this point. His knees clicked and temples throbbed - he was pretty sure he was dying of dehydration. The Dragons cared for their slaves even less than they did for their pets or even their livestock, he had been constantly hungry and thirsty. 

Branches scraped at Zoro’s flesh as he broke through the treeline, entering the small cove where his crew had been the last time -  _ so many years ago -  _ they had docked on this island.

Hoping against hope, betting everything on the chance that  _ maybe _ they stayed put just in case, he rounded the dark shadow of a rock. 

_ please, please you’re my only hope- _

And almost collapsed.

The Sunny wasn’t there.

Zoro felt his legs almost go from underneath him, until he saw it; the barest blue edge of a snout sticking above the water, under the dark overhand of a rock cliff. It took his brain a few moments to register the painted white fangs and the glaring eye of the Shark Submerge. 

A yellow light glittered off the surface of the sea, spilling from the porthole. One of Zoro’s crew was here after all!

Zoro ran, skidding down the carved rock path that led to her. He shouted his head off - or at least he thought he was shouting - as he splashed through the shallows to reach the Shark Submerge.

Zoro clambered onto the submarine, with his hands shackled he was surprised he made it at all. He thudded on the hatch so violently that a few dents appeared in the metal, and as soon as it opened Zoro threw himself inside. On top of the surprised person who opened it. 

Usopp, Usopp’s beautiful face was what he had landed on. Zoro grinned and opened his mouth to shout -  _ Usopp! I finally got away! where is everyone?! -  _ he knew he was babbling, not surprising that Usopp was looking at him like he had seen a ghost. It had been so  _ long. _

Usopp continued to stare at him, his mouth opening and shutting. Zoro stared at him with eyes wide. All Zoro could hear was a slight low mumble, like listening to voices talking three rooms away.

Something wasn’t right, Zoro could  _ feel _ the words he was saying but he couldn’t-

Zoro’s grin faded. Usopp frowned as he moved Zoro’s weight off of him and onto the floor of the Shark Submerge. He grabbed Zoro by the shoulders and shook him, his mouth moving even more like he was shouting.

But Zoro couldn’t hear him.

That’s when it hit him - when the collar exploded, it had taken his hearing with it. The blood running out of his ears was probably his shattered eardrums.

Usopp gripped his shoulders, tears spilling freely over his cheeks. He grabbed Zoro and pulled him close, touching his face and looking closely at his ears.

Usopp wept silently over him, to Zoro anyway, he was sure that Usopp’s crying wasn’t quiet in the slightest.

His chest jerked and shuddered as he pulled Zoro close to it, his nose dripped snot all over Zoro’s shoulder. 

Zoro started to cry with him, despite it being hours since he last had anything to drink. The tears burned as they trickled down the mask of blood on his face.

He cried, knowing he would never hear any of his friends’ voices again.


	6. Please...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why choose!  
> This one’s pretty mean I’m sorry *laughs* Just a regular day at the goth family household.

_ Get it out ✔ /No more ✔ /stop, please ✔ _

* * *

“Please, get it out already! Yank it out all at once, I can’t take this!” Zoro wailed.

“Calm down, Roronoa. If I go ‘yanking it out’, you could bleed to death in minutes. Don’t you know anything about stab wounds?”

Mihawk made a disgusted sound as he re-adjusted the cloth around Zoro’s ribs, and the small crucifix-shaped knife sticking out from in between them. “For someone who gets injured as much as you do, I would have thought you would be an  _ expert _ by now.”

A high, breathy sound wound out of Zoro’s throat as Mihawk moved the blade from side to side, wiggling it to try and get it loose. He hadn’t exactly wanted to experience the feeling of Mihawk’s pathetically short blade entering his body again, but he had gotten careless. When Mihawk duelled, he duelled with a kind of swordsman’s code, but Zoro had found he wasn’t above playing dirty either.

It was like a magician’s trick, keep an eye on the knife - keep an eye on the knife. Then, when Zoro was distracted by the huge black blade, it was gone. Then it was embedded two inches from his lung. 

Zoro jerked away from Mihawk’s fiddling with the blade, he could feel it grinding against bone. “Shouldn’t you take me to a doctor?!” 

“The nearest island is almost a hundred miles away. You will be dead, or the wound will be infected, before we get halfway there. Just stay still - and Perona!” Mihawk barked suddenly. “Bring me wine.”

  
Perona rolled her eyes over from where she had been hovering in the doorway. “What do you need  _ wine  _ for?!”

“For disinfecting the wound, and also to drink. Bring me something from the bottom shelf of the rack for me, and something more recent for him.”

Zoro scowled up at Mihawk. He was bleeding to death and Mihawk was acting like he was choosing a wine at a fancy restaurant. He howled as Mihawk readjusted his grip on the wound.

“Oh come now, is that any way to behave?” Mihawk snapped. “You were foolish enough to take a hit, you could at least act with some _ decorum _ !”

“You’re  _ enjoying _ this, aren’t you?!” Zoro growled.

“I wouldn’t say I enjoy having my eardrums assaulted with your screams, no! I would prefer some peace and quiet.”

Perona soon slumped back into the room with two bottles of wine in her hands.

“Is this what you meant? It’s the least dusty one.” she said, waving one of them in the air.

“Yes, thank you.” Mihawk said, taking the bottle without looking and popping the cork. Zoro winced as Mihawk poured a stream of the room-temperature liquid over his wound. First it felt cold, then the alcohol started to burn.

Zoro hissed as the dark liquid mingled with his blood. If the burning wasn’t enough, his shirt was going to be ruined with the earthen tang of the nasty stuff. He didn’t understand how Mihawk could go through several bottles a day.

“Hm, the blade appears to be stuck, maybe I will have to take your advice and ‘yank it out’?” Mihawk said, with a raised eyebrow and the ghost of a smirk.

One sharp pull on the blade had Zoro screaming, probably forever making his rival lose the last dribble of respect he had for him. Mihawk kept one hand on the hilt of the blade while plugging an ear up with the other.

“STOP,  _ PLEASE!”  _ Zoro screamed, his voice becoming hoarse from the ferocity of his screams.

“Perona, be a dear and pour me a glass of wine. This might take a while.”

“Don’t call me a ‘dear’! What are you, my grandpa?” she yelled with her hands on her hips. “I’m not your  _ servant _ either!”

Mihawk groaned, muttering under his breath. “Now  _ both  _ of them are making noise.” 

Perona stomped over and yanked the cork off, spilling bright red wine into Mihawk’s cup. “ _ Thank you Perona!” _ she said, before Mihawk had time to thank her. “Jeez. I have to do  _ everything _ around here!”

Mihawk took a sip, made a face like he was sucking on a lemon, then slammed the glass back down.

“Didja pour your fancy old wine over his wound instead of the crappy new stuff?” Perona said with a smirk.

Mihawk’s mouth became a grim thin line as he glared at her. Without any warning, he yanked on the hilt of the blade, pulling it out with a spurt of blood.

  
Zoro screamed.  _ “GAH!” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I lied I’m never sorry)


	7. I've got you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry y'all, just fell ass over teakettle into a depressive episode and decided I was Never Going to Write Again, Ever.  
> I still intend to finish whumptober even if it takes me until next spring to do it, so I hope y'all will follow me.
> 
> This chapter is very much zolu, enjoy.

_Support ✔ /Carrying ✔ / ~~Enemy to caretaker~~_

* * *

  
  


"ZORO! HOLD THEM OFF NO MATTER WHAT!" Luffy shouted as he catapulted himself over the fray. "I'M SORRY! I'LL BE BACK SOON!" 

"Aye, captain!" Zoro shouted back, nails in his eyes, wolf in his grin as he stared the enemy down. 

He liked a challenge after all. Luffy's 'be back soon' meant he was probably going to be gone for a while. A _long_ while. 

Anyone else might balk at that, start fretting about not being able to hold off an entire goddamn _army_ by themselves... Not Zoro. Being the first mate of the Straw Hats came with certain expectations of him and he intended to hold them up. 

Minutes of fighting turned to hours, hours that slipped away faster and faster until the sun was going down. Then he fought in the dark. 

Swords clashing against swords, tearing through flesh. In the pitch black, sometimes the sparks of metal against metal were the only light he had. 

Eventually, he threw off the top half of his coat and let his enemies blood spatter against his bare shoulders. Soon, he couldn't tell if they were soaked more with sweat or blood.

Anyone else might have assumed Luffy wasn't coming after so many hours. Not Zoro. When Luffy told him to protect something, he did it with his life.

It started to rain around dawn, peach sunlight breaking through misty clouds. Zoro had so much bloody water falling into his eye he could barely see, making up for it with observation Haki.

His opponents dropped down to a scattered handful, scared of throwing more men at the blood-soaked swordsman for fear of losing more.

Zoro’s chest was heaving with exertion, his coat and sash tied around his waist damp with sweat. Still, he put a foot forward and bared his teeth at his remaining foes. His jaw ached from where it had been clenched around Wado for so long.

Zoro’s knees quivered. “Come _on_!”

His foes looked to each other for affirmation before running forward with a combined warcry. Zoro surged forward, only for a gigantic fist to knock them all flying, straight off the rocky cliffs and into the sea. 

Luffy snapped his fist back into shape with a mischievous grin, turning it on Zoro and flooding him with relief. 

He came, just as he said he would, just as he _always_ would.

"Zoro, you did it! I'm so _proud_ of you!" 

Zoro put his swords back into his sheaths, taking a moment to finally dislodge Wado from his mouth. He smiled, jaw clicking in relief as he put Wado away. He took a wobbly step towards Luffy, then grunted as his leg went from under him. Luffy was there to catch him, grinning and running his warm hands over Zoro's bloody, rain-chilled skin. 

Luffy pressed a kiss to his forehead before scooping him into his arms. 

Zoro grabbed the front of Luffy's shirt, he felt like he was tipping as Luffy adjusted his grip. 

"It's alright! You've worked so hard, I'm gonna take you to Chopper to get you cleaned up."

"Yes Captain." Zoro mumbled, weariness dragging his eyelid down.

Luffy chuckled. "Bet you want to nap, huh?" 

"You have no idea how badly." 

"You can sleep if you want, I've got you Zoro." 

Luffy took him back towards Sunny, slipping a little on the rainy stone ground. Zoro felt light as a feather, drifting off to sleep in the warm security of knowing Luffy would be there to catch him whenever he needed him to.

His captain, _his._


End file.
